"currently battling with my dear friend, the Silverstripe CMS" - 18 hours ago
"is thoroughly relaxed at another Irish farmhouse B&B, this time one run by a character and a half, Sharon Moore.... http://fb.me/Fd1zVe5z" - 1 day ago
"Is this the Nellie bunker you were talking about mate? Safely avoided I'm pleased to report http://fb.me/EHAvCmyU" - 2 days ago
I’m sitting in the back of one of those GMC Arctic lorries, en route to Newark Airport. Our good friend George Eberle very kindly had his driver take us along the last freeways we’ll see in the US of A, before we board our Iceland Express flight tonight bound for London. And then an Easyjet one bound for Edinburgh. Tomorrow evening we’ll be playing at The Royal Burgess with my Uncle David, whom I haven’t seen for years. Quite a lot to take in, really.
It’s been an action packed 63 days here, and today certainly hasn’t passed us by without incident. They seldom do. This morning we awoke with a lot to do – packing, organise a game of golf, play golf, get ourselves to Newark Airport on time. You’d think we would’ve ticked a few of those tasks off our list before the eleventh hour. But you’d be wrong. Because, it seems, we are nutters.
I did my packing first thing, which was less painful than it could’ve been. We’ve accumulated a huge amount of stuff. A rolling stone may gather no moss, but a golf touring Kiwi gathers a lot of hats. In fact I’d say I’m almost at the “hat collection” threshold – something I never actively pursued nor intended. Trouble is the only hats I need to wear – by virtue of our obligations to our sponsor, Westfield – are running thin on the supply side, forcing me to wear a colour clashing bright red one. I’ll get over it.
I don’t quite know how it came to be that we didn’t organise a game of golf for today before today, but that’s what happened. Yep. Down the road from Maison George is Muttontown Golf Club – a grand old beast whose membership is largely Jewish I’m led to believe. At about 9am we approached the pro, Jeff, and explained our plight. Surprise surprise there was an outing on – shotgun start at 12 – so we were bang out of luck. To his credit Jeff did table the option of paying $92 each and zipping around – but that idea wasn’t an incredibly viable one. Onwards and upwards, then.
We drove around the streets of Long Island looking for other prospects. 9.30am, by this time. I swung the truck into the Tam O’Shanter Club, which looked sharpish albeit mobbed. Another dam outing. And a less than friendly maitre de / car park attendant, who was marshalling the troops with militant gusto. He didn’t have much time for me and I didn’t have much time for him, so our relationship was a short lived one. We moved on once again.
This time to a municipal facility a few miles down the road, known as Eisenhower State Park. Similar to Bethpage, except Robert Trent Jones has his name stamped on the “Blue Course / Red Course” signs rather than Tillinghast. The check in area was buzzing with largely elderly folks out for their Monday morning game with their pals. A full tee sheet right through until 11.30 wasn’t looking promising, particularly since it would’ve taken us a good 5 hours to get around. That wasn’t going to work given we were being picked up from Maison George at 4 – and still had a fair bit of packing to do! Paul the pro kindly did his best to help us out, but with the sheer traffic they had there the stars were just not aligned.
At this point Mike and I were getting genuinely concerned about whether we’d manage to get our daily round in. 193 days in a row – the prospect of missing one is a bone chilling one. (Although let it be known that given the state of my calf muscles after going for a run and playing yesterday, under normal circumstances I would quite happily have not played golf today). We really had one last lead, and that was to head to Piping Rock, where our mate Elliott is a member. He’d made the call over the weekend to see if we could make it happen, but run into some friction because the superintendent had designs to do some spraying. Still it was worth a shot – so we plugged Piping Rock Club into the GPS; raced along the back roads at a rate of knots; and told our story one more time.
Gavin, the pro’s brother who’s across from Ireland for a few weeks (he’s a teacher, so is on his summer holidays right now) and the pro’s wife, lent us their ear for a few minutes then were good enough to make enquiries on our behalf with The Powers That Be. Before long Larry the Starter appeared; did a bit of to-ing and fro-ing; then gave us the green light. Hallelujah! What a relief. And even better, we had the course to ourselves anda cart to zip around in. At this point we were looking good for catching our flight...
Because of the urgency of the situation, we played a Canadian foursome. For those who don’t know it, you both hit drives; pick the best one; then play alternate shots until you’re in. It took us 1 hour 41 minutes to get around, and we weren’t even gunning it. I think I’d describe that as a Result. Our score was a very mediocre 3 over par, courtesy of a string of 3 putts, but to be honest we were just glad to fulfil our obligations and be on our way.
In the melee we still managed to absorb the quality of C B MacDonald’s fine handywork. Piping Rock is quality. And it has a beautiful, Georgian looking clubhouse overlooking the front 9 to match. Very majestic indeed, I say. Similar in character to parts of The Creek – and possessed of a string of strong par 4s at 450+ yards (not to mention a couple of par 3s well over 200). We had fun.
As I look out the window Manhattan is to my right, it’s giant skyscrapers climbing into the stratosphere. What a magnificent spectacle. We must be nearing Newark; it’ll be a relief when those bags and checked in and all we need to do is board. Then sleep.
Following the pleasantries at Piping Rock we made our way hastily back to George’s, had a quick dip, then finished our packing. As I said before, a lot of stuff... Mary the Maid being the good soul that she is helped us slap together a couple of chicken sandwiches, and we were on our way. Toga is doing a fine job at navigating the 568 million cars on the New Jersey Turnpike (which according to our pal Slambino is the most amazing feat of road engineering in history – I’m not so sure myself). And soon we’ll be off, to commence another leg of this mad journey.
Never a dull moment.
JP
Welcome to a humdinger of a day at Garden City Golf Club. The club where the golf is pure and the atmosphere is electric. Even during the afternoon where everyone ought be watching the world cup final.
Blazer requirements in the clubhouse at all times and so we sat and read some books on golf looking dapper and reminisced of our last 61 days in the US of A whilst we waited for our host Mr Alex Barnet to arrive.
And that he did, in fine form and with none other than Mr Andy Leveen, one of these infamous brothers who seem to pop up everywhere. Fortunately Mr Leveen was to be chasing our heels today in another four ball, where he subsequently crashed and burned amidst a sea of ‘transfusions’ on the golf course in a feeble attempt to replicate his fine scoring during the Westhampton Experience. He did hit it close on the second though whilst we were standing on the 3rd tee and I’m going to humor Mr Leveen and show y’all a photo of the short birdie putt he subsequently missed..
By the way I am rolling with some New York Times journalistic style today by my rather tongue-in-cheek use of Mr. It has been bizarre to read about Mr Rooney shooting at goal, Mr Nelson and his stellar defending and so forth..
So between Mr Leveens fourball, hosted by a charismatic chap by the name of Bob, and us the staff were kept busy and there was a bit of a buzz around the bar heightened by a few guys, including us kiwi’s of course, eager to have their first look at the golf course.
A Corrs Light and a few practice swings later we had left behind the pre-match analysis for the world cup final and were onto the first tee with our caddy Nick who was to drive the cart around with all our bags piled on so we could stroll the property and take it this C B Macdonald course. A Very Good gig for Nick today and I’m now recommending caddying as a job to a few young people we bump into, particularly during College holidays..
I was up first on the opening hole, a 300 yard par four guarded by a large bunker which my tee shot just carried resulting in a wee two putt birdie start. Couple of holes later there was another on the very reachable par five 4th hole, to use Mr Pattons prose ‘take that Charles’.
Mr Barnet was a fanstastic host today and the lad knows how to enjoy a day out at golf. He is one of two junior members initiated into the club each year and has strong roots here having lived besides the property growing up. His locker still has the name of his grandfather, George, on it and the two of them used to play a lot of golf together. Now Mr Barnet runs a charity in memory of George by putting on events and raising money for Alzheimer’s. That is when he is not busy working in the insurance industry in Manhatton (read: entertaining clients). Another Top Man with a good gig here – we’re meeting more than a few of them recently and it is starting to give NYC a pretty strong pull for life post 2010.
Garden City golf course is pure (as you can see from the photo above!!) and one of the best on Long Island. Perfectly conditioned from tee to green, the course has very few trees in play and each hole being surrounded by long hay that you don’t want to go into. The course has C B Macdonalds stamp all over it with burns, unique bunkering and subtle green complexes (like the 10th where the green is merely an extension from the fairway and tilts away leaving a difficult approach shot and two putt from the front of the green). There are a few blind shots too, particularly if you get your angles wrong. The wee agglomerations of bunkers sprout up here and there which are fiddly to say the least. With such tiny bunkers you don’t know what kind of lie you’re going to get making it all the easier to chunk it into the following one! It is unusually a par 73 with 4 par fives and only 3 short holes – a very unusual balance in the US, but I always enjoy the opportunities that arise with four par fives which increasingly seems to be a rarity.
Alex on the 2nd. A favourite hole amongst the pro's.
The par five 17th I snap hooked it so violently that I was nearly OOB a fairway + to the left. See the flag stick just below the steeple that signifies a bunker. This is another feature of the course.
Playing this inland links course is good preparation for Scotland and we’re transitioning from landing the ball by the pin to landing it 5 to 10 yards short, and often 5 to 10 yards left or right. It makes the role of a caddy even more important as rather than simply aiming at the flagstick and swinging you need to realize that the perfect shot will actually bring your ball down somewhere entirely different.
Mr Patton, Mr Barnet and myself played a split sixes match (which most Americas are unfamiliar with so I will explain briefly: 6 points up for grabs on each hole split in a variety of ways between the three players, for example: 4:2:0; 4:1:1; 3:3:0; or 2:2:2. 108 points up for grabs over the course of the round with a maximum if one person won every single hole outright of 72). In the end, standing on the par three 18th green (also unusual), with the practice putting green around us, we had a bizarre situation where we were all tied on 36 points each having all played exactly to our handicaps of 1, 4 and 9. Mr Barnet could have / should have cleaned us up particularly with his freddy couples swing knocking it long and with a high draw down the fairway time after time.
After golf we saw the real club atmosphere – the self proclaimed party club although there are no women here just lads having a few beers so it is not that kind of party.. We sat around on the deck overlooking the 18th (and practice putting green) and shared stories about our adventure with more than a couple of locals and their guests. We were even invited back to the famous New Years day party and the locals pointed out we could play 31st December in NZ and then fly here in time for it… I don’t think that will happen this year but you never know! Me being the sensible one and driving I eventually pulled Mr Patton from the table and we retreated back to George and Aimee’s place to start our packing for Scotland.. Thanks Alex for hosting us and Mr Leveen for jacking it all up – another fond memory to leave the US with.
Sleeping in and swimming in the pool and catching up on a spot of administration were the precursors to the latest round of golf at Deepdale Golf Club, a seriously private track just off the Long Island Expressway about a 10 minutes drive from base camp in Locust Valley, Long Island.
Our round here was arranged through Raymond Floyd Junior, a friend of a friend and so it turns out a friend of a few friends we’ve met during our US travels. You may have guessed that Ray’s father is none other than Raymond Floyd Senior, aka the legendary golfer who won the US Open down the road at Shinnecock.
Unfortunately Raymond and his buddies were on a golfing weekend up in Canada at a place called Red Tail so we played unaccompanied. But a huge thanks to Raymond for having us (I hear he and a few of the guys at his work including Andy Leveen, are often distracted from the stockmarket by the antics of a couple of kiwi lunatics).
A constant theme we’ve come across in these parts revolves around a chap who lives not far away and goes by the name of Julian Robertson. No we don’t know him, and no we haven’t met him (yet), but yes he has two outstanding golf courses in New Zealand that we are bookending our trip with. Mr Robertson is a member of Deepdale and a few other courses we’ve played on Long Island and seems to be as revered around these parts as Charles in England. Or maybe his name is just very closely linked to New Zealand because of all the great publicity he drives, particularly in the US, for Kauri Cliffs and Cape Kidnappers. The rumour is that Mr Robertson is one of 18 billionaires who knock it around at this club.. Deepdale probably best describes itself on its website where it says it is "one of the preeminent private clubs in America continues to this day, welcoming a diverse membership of men and women united by their common love of the game of golf."
The property at Deepdale an old estate and the golf course, originally designed by C B Macdonald and his proteges Seth Raynor and Charles Banks but then redesigned by Mr Wilson after the Long Island Expressway was cut through the course, now weaves its way through the estate passing by a number of old buildings which have no been converted. An old indoor tennis court adjoins the 9th hole and this has now been converted into a caddyshack. An old barn lines the 15th hole and this is now the quarters for the professional and his assistants. Upon arrival we were greeted by Scott and made to feel entirely at home in the grand clubhouse despite playing unaccompanied. I forgot to say g’day to Scott from a friend of his from his days on Wall Street and none other than Jeff Leveen – one of these infamous brothers who seem to pop up everywhere. We were introduced to our caddy for the day, a kiwi turned English lad by the name of Dylan, and we scooted down to the range to hit a few balls. Hitting balls pre-round is part of the routine in the US – unlike downunder. We’ve both got very used to warming up and it helps being loosened up before the first hole or two – particularly as our bodies are getting creakier by the day – feel like 25 going on 55 at times. Today I went for the unusual option of hitting some chip and pitch shots for 15 minutes before we played which definitely helped (to both warm up and score better) although I have to be wary not to do that again as it may be interpreted as ‘practice’ which is not part of the ethos of the journey!!
We started on the 4th hole (pictured below) at Deepdale as there were a few groups around and this place is low key and understated and you do what works. Which I like. Wasn’t so sure about the first shot of the day though, a 165 yard into the wind par three to a front pin in a portion of the green only about 8 paces wide. I shut my eyes and knocked it close which set the tone for a good day ahead. JP and I played a best ball and were 5 under par through the first 6 holes as we traded birdies. As we were thinking about best-ball-Paul-Goydos-59 we went off the boil, started missing the putts and ended up at the mark of 5. But lets not get distracted with trivial matters like scoring on what was an absolutely pristine track.
Deepdale’s reputation has proceeded it as we’ve traveled around Long Island. Firstly the greens here are as pure as they get. The story goes that the pro’s come out here to replicate the putting experience at Augusta National the greens are that pure. Being so quick they also take a heap of break and a few greens with a tilt on them, for example the uphill par four 15th, require a pretty creative 2 putt. The same can be said about the 18th which would just be scary with them rolling at a 14 on the stint meter (which is where they normally are but today we were given some respite and they were quite a bit slower as greenkeepers in these parts are worried about this crazy heat wave and not cutting them too short in fear of losing their greens altogether).
Looking back at Deepdale four days on and sitting in a plane which has been designed for school children - my knees are up by my head and I’m only of average height - I can’t think of one particular hole that absolutely stands out at Deepdale and would make it into my ‘best composite 18 in America’ (*** see blog post to follow) but I can remember every single hole and every single shot with complete clarity. When you play as much golf as we do, and you start on the 4th hole, knowing the routing and broadly understanding every hole is really the sign of a great course. The 10th hole is a different one as it reads 400 yards on the card but plays sharply downhill at about the 270 mark right towards the green such that a well struck driver and you’re not far from the front edge. Good for the ego if you’re so inclined to hit driver but we both kept the ball at the top of the hill with irons – Jamie a little further back on this occasion after hitting a tree…
The dogleg left, par four 8th to an elevated green surrounded by beautifully sculpted bunkers. Don't leave it short and get stung by the false front!
The tight par four 15th, played uphill and to the left. The barn on the right is the Professionals abode.
The short par four 16th, with our man Dylan watching on.
We finished playing the last couple of holes alongside a father / son duo who are members here which gave the day a nice personalized touch. Sans golf it was time to shower up (top 5 shower in the US) and a wander through the clubhouse which as the old homestead was really something. And then back to home base to chill out.
Wednesday July 7 was the day that we bid adieu to our trusty van, Dodgy. But not before we’d slept in it one final time, or should I say tried to sleep in it as the 85 degree overnight ‘low’ turned Dodgy into a sauna.
We had arranged to meet the Swiss buyers at Starbucks in Queens and from there we did the deal, gave Dodgy a pat farewell and jumped in a cab along with all of our gear on route to the Creek Club. But first we had talked to about 6 rental companies about getting new wheels for the rest of our time in the US but they were all trying to charge us 6% of NZ’s GDP for 5 days rental (and even more for 4 days – go figure?). We were in a pickle so us being us thought, let’s get out to Westhampton (Jeff Leveen had agreed to give us a ride out after our game at the Creek) and we’ll take stock from there. Meanwhile we were also trying to arrange for the papers to transfer the car, not altogether an easy task when it is Californian registered and we didn’t want to change it to NY as the buyers are doing the return trip back to California. A logistically difficult step in our year of golf.
You can probably picture us in the cab arriving at the Creek Club with all of our belongings (many of which had been hurriedly put into various golf club ‘shoe bags’), frazzled and without much sleep under our belt. Oh, and it was of course another humdingingly hot day. But then, as it often seems to work out, we met our host for the day, George Eberle who was such a cool ‘dude’ that his energy rubbed off on us and before we knew it we were living the dream at the Creek Club. We also had that elated buzz after and I must admit I felt a little bit proud that we’d managed to buy Dodgy, drive Dodgy and sell Dodgy all with no huge dramas.
George brought out his friend and a junior guy at his work to join us for the round, another Top Man by the name of Elliot Pool. So the four of us sat down and got to know each other over a spot of lunch in the clubhouse and a couple of infamous Southsides. Both these guys are on our wavelength so after minutes it was like we were old friends sharing lies and drinking beer. After our whirlwind morning and four nights straight sleeping in Dodgy, I was happy as larry to be perched in this old homestead that has been converted into a golf clubhouse and enjoying a fine lunch. A very fine lunch at that. The service and all around atmosphere of the Creek was first rate and stacked up there with the best establishments we have been blessed to be invited to this year.
The golf course at the Creek Club was designed by Mr C B Macdonald - a busy man in these parts in the early part of the 20th century. The club is situated on a long skinny block of land on Long Island, which at the northern tip borders the Long Island Sound and the club makes the most of this by having a beach club out there with accompanying swimming pools and bars.. It’s a cool spot on the property. The course winds its way down from the clubhouse out to the beach club and the 10th hole (below) plays right along the waters edge before the course makes its way back to the clubhouse. The routing is like a traditional links course which I enjoy. Today it not only played downwind many of the outwards holes, but also downhill towards the water. And then you turn and try to make your way home..
The name ‘the Creek’ stems from a tidal creek which runs parallel to the beach. The 11th hole is the signature hole on the course – a par three which is played from near the ocean’s edge to an island green which is completely surrounded by ‘the creek’.
The 10th and 11th holes run east / west and are an interesting part of the golf course and holes that wont be forgotten in a hurry! 10 is a drivable par four, but you need to carry the ball over the water and if you go left you’re OOB, and on the beach. Around the green a number of wee bunkers which you’d almost rather be in as opposed to the sandy scrappy lies between them. It’s pure.
The 11th green, whilst completely surrounded by water, is absolutely massive. It is probably 70 yards in length and today there was a back pin. So boys being boys we finished out and went to the front edge of the green to see if anyone could two putt (see below) but after two tries each with no success we moved on to the 12th where instead of playing off the regular tees, we hit off from the back edge of the island 11th green turning a 390 yard hole into a 480 yard monster. Which George subsequently knocked it on in two and made a solid 4, net 3. Money. Needless to say after a handful of these and some solid playing from JP over the front nine Elliot and I were tail between the legs and shaking hands on the 15th hole.
The holes at the Creek which are on the bottom plateau have a real linksy feel to them and with huge waste bunkers along the fairways it almost has a Cypress’esque feel to it. These holes are very flat, with the odd raised green (eg #9 and the gnarly #16 which is elevated with a huge false front and I’m sure has been the graveyard for many rounds over the years and is pictured below) and play firm and subject to the elements.
George explained that there used to be huge reeds on the dogleg right 13th hole that blocked the view of the green from the tee, but these have now been removed to leave a wide open windswept expanse. The tributary rolling across the 13th and 14th holes into the main ‘Creek’ has also been cleaned up and over time this will erode away more of the course to become a prominent feature. I really like what they have done in this corner of the golf course near the ocean – the guys hope it will forge its way back into the top 100 in the US, and judging from our experience I think it can’t be too far away!
The last hole climbed back up to the clubhouse and a couple of solid swings later I had 10 feet for eagle. Finally a putt dropped, a good finish but far too late to compete with the guns.
George Eberle? Amazing host and did everything to smooth over the stress of the day. Even invited us to stay, and to borrow his landcruiser for the next few days which has taken a huge load off our shoulders. We went back to his place after golf and met Aimee and their four kids. We had a quick shower and then ventured out to the Mill Creek in Bayville where we were hosted by the owner Mr James Scott who is a chief champ boss captain skipper. He had about a million stories to share – including the one of him as a 24 year old fresh out of college making far too much money and with a father as the president of playboy magazine.. Sounded like a rough couple of years for him. James went around the restaurant telling everyone about these two crazy kiwis playing golf every day for a year and before we knew it we were making new friends all over the show. James has left wall street now and has really found his niche (we kiwis pronounce that ‘neesh’ not nitch) making fine food and serving fine wine and generally making people like us and the Eberle’s happy over a great night out. He also was kind enough to make a donation to The First Tee. Thanks to George and Aimee and Elliot and everyone else involved with another special day of puregolf2010.
Ok team, so here we go with part two of day 186 of puregolf2010 and I have quite the act to follow up after JP has painted quite a picture of the National Golf Links of America.
Before I start gushing superlatives about Shinnecock I’m going to pin my colours to the wall and declare Shinnecock as one of my absolute hands down favourite golf courses. Top 5 this year without one iota of doubt. The story of Shinnecock is not about the cocktails, the swish locker room (great showers) or the food – it is about the golf course: this is pure golf. Allow me to elaborate…
Shinnecock was originally designed in 1891 by Willie Dunne on this magnificent piece of rolling land in Southampton on Long Island (it is right next door to NGLA and another club whose clubhouse blots the skyline and is called Sebonack). The course immediately appeared on the USGA radar and hosted the 1896 US Open (won by Foulis) one of four Opens that have been held here (along with the 1986 (Floyd), 1995 (Pavin) and 2004 (Goosen) Championships).
Lets now fast forward to the present day and our host for the afternoon, Mr David Jennings. David hails from Connecticut but has been a member here for many years. Yet another great guy we’ve met who is part of the financial world and now keeps himself busy as a company director and helping friends out here and there… By the looks of David’s golf swing he must have done quite a lot of business on the golf course over the years as he definitely could play. David is a true gentleman who is quite rightly proud of the club that is Shinnecock. It’s generally not about crazy nights in the clubhouse here or wining and dining large outings of clients here but about taking on this spectacular golf course.
So to the golf course and the beautiful array of colours that lay out on the wide open expanse laid out below the clubhouse. From an elevated tee by the pro-shop (where earlier Dodgy had made quite the impression on the staff and visitors) the round begins with a straight forward opening hole played down into the battle ground.
Our first taste of the small greens here at Shinnecock which are very traditionally designed and much smaller than the traditional links style greens across the way at NGLA. Shoulders roll off the bunkers and you can’t be short-sided and expect to recover. Many of the greens have a false front and angle away from you making the landing area appear very small from down on the fairway - a very simple but effective design. Fortunately the putting surfaces were not rolling at US Open pace and mere mortals like us could have a chance today.
The course routing is brilliantly done as the holes wind around the huge property so that you are constantly faced with a changing wind direction. Only twice do holes consecutively run the same way, on the 2nd and 3rd, and then again on 11 and 12. And from most holes you look up the hill at the grand clubhouse looking over the golf course.
Walking down the 3rd hole, a par four played to a fairway angling away to the left, I thought to myself I should not have had that Southside over lunch and ‘the fairways should not be rolling at me like the ocean”. The heat was scintillating - we had picked a scorcher of a day for our double header with the mercury hitting 100 most of the day… The second and third holes run in the same direction away from the clubhouse and with little wind the first four holes are flat and generally left me asking, is this it?
So +1 through the opening four and then we arrived at the number five hole after guzzling a couple of liters of water which crucially made the fairways stand still. The 5th is the first of two par fives and the first of a couple of birdies today. Jamie learnt a lesson not to go over the green where there is a steep drop off and when the pin is tucked tight to the top of the hill you just have to take your 30 footer for par and walk off..
The 6th hole is the only hole on the course with a water hazard and is aptly named ‘pond’. The number one handicap hole at 456 yards it plays through a myriad of bunkers both and the fairway and the green. This is the hole where two solidly struck shots leaves you putting for birdie and pleased to have missed the real experiences with the hole.
The 7th (below) is a world famous hole for both the right and wrong reasons. The ‘Redan’ as JP explained below described a hole where the green is tilted from right to left, guarded by a by bunker short and angles away to the left. Eg, you need to come in with a very high cut to hold the slope, or preferably bounce the ball in through the opening on the right. The Redan at Shinnecock formed part of the original al design by C B Macdonald and was wisely kept by Mr Flynn. This is the hole that the USGA had huge issues with during the 2004 Open when the greens were just too fast and after 6 groups had played the hole the average score was 6-point-something. So they decided to water the green after each group thus favouring the later groups and all hell broke loose. But they had to do something as the hole was swiftly becoming completely unplayable. All three of us missed long which left us playing up to a green sloping away from us with the pin tightly cut near the top of the slope. Dave went first and didn’t get it up the slope so it came tumbling back towards him. JP went second and gave his chip a little much juice and was left with a 30 footer back up the hill. Then Dave tried again and did something quite spectacular, holing his shot from off the green – a shot many of the pro’s would have paid huge money for – particularly those in the first 6 groups! I opted for the texan wedge and rolled it just over the crest of the hill for a cheeky par.
The 8th and 9th holes play back in general direction of the clubhouse with the 8th a short par four with a green that slopes away from you and is devilishly difficult to hit, and then the 9th climbs up to the clubhouse for a truly spectacular finish to the nine with the bunkers (see photo two below) guarding the front left of the green. A miraculous up and down and I was out in 35.
To the back nine and the rollercoaster 10th hole which plays uphill, downhill and then back uphill. If you bomb it down the hill you’re left playing a wedge into an elevated green with the most severe false front I’ve seen. A ball hit with spin will literally roll off the green and then 40 yards back down the fairway. That is not an exaggerated “40 yards off the green” but you’ll actually have close to a full swing getting it back up top. I laid up short with 2 iron from the tee and had a flat approach across the gully and there was no way my 6 iron was going to spin back off the green.
11 is a short uphill par three surrounded by bunkers and a roll-off back left which is actually the worst miss and from where it is impossible to get up and down from unless you are Greg Norman. Or Phil Mickelson. This wee postage stamp reminded me of 17 at NSW.
The 12th tee is a great place on the golf course. I looked down upon the 11th green and thought of the disasters that much have occurred on that tiny piece of soil, and then refocused on the beauty of the 12th fairway (picture below looking back down 12 fairway from the green), a monstrously long par four along the perimeter of the course. A good bounce and a flush 6 iron down the breeze later and I was tapping in for 3 – it’s great to be back playing hard and fast golf where the elements really play their part.
Standing out on the 13th fairway with 8 iron in hand I stopped thinking about the beauty of the course and realised I was in red numbers at Shinnecock. I looked up and the green looked like there was absolutely no landing area – false front, bunker left/long and short/right with a green angling away to the right. Where do you hit it?? (Note – JP and Dave were sensibly just taking in the beautiful way this hole is framed with the clubhouse perched off in the distance). Shinnecock is not a place to start thinking too much and moments later my 8 iron was floating up in the air against the wind and plugging into the bunker short right - double.
On the 14th hole – the location for Shell’s wide world of golf where some pro’s jaunted around in a helicopter playing the 18 finest holes in this area – you start to realize that this back nine is a special special creature. I’m going to leave this hole, and the downhill strong par four 15th to the photographs below. The light in these parts is particularly good and the golfing vistas along the 14th and 15th holes are about as good as it gets.
16 is another green perfectly framed by the clubhouse. A three shot par five, particularly into the wind, Dave said it is a hole that the winner of the Open normally makes birdie on. And it’s very much a birdie hole if you get into position for your third shot. Walking off with 5, my hopes and dreams of an under par round at Shinny were dashed and I limped home over the last two holes to finish +4, 74. Another kiwi misses the cut.
The 17th rounds out the set of par threes with another green angling away to the left and surrounded by bunkers – almost redan-esque but without such a severe tilt on the green. The par threes as a set? In a word – perfect. Up there with both NSW and Riviera as the best of the year.
And then 18, well what can you say… The site of much history, drama and great golf shots. Jamie’s 2 iron out of the bunker to 20 feet would rival Mr Pavin’s four wood from 1995, although I dare say Mr Patton had more pressure on his shoulders.
We play a lot of golf, and recently on some of the better golf courses going around. But very very few courses are as breathtaking as Shinnecock. In particular the back nine here has to be one of the great nine holes in world golf. Despite holes 10 – 18 being our 28th to 36th holes of the day in 100 degree weather, I was in another world walking around the back nine. A pig in mud. The design elements, the grandiose of the holes set amongst the rolling topography and the sheer beauty of the terrain was awe-inspiring and an experience I will never forget.
Thank you David for your company and making the day possible. A day that will be very hard to look past in years to come when reminiscing about the year that was golf.
Shinnecock
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